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Calm spaces can reduce stress and cognitive load, making it easier to get important work done.

Decision-making, another cognitive process, can make de-cluttering harder.

Building a habit of keeping what you want, tidying, and shedding what you don't is the core of decluttering.

Breaking things into small tasks and making them a pleasant part of your day makes decluttering less daunting.

I am not a pack rat by nature. For years, I didn’t really have to think about Spring cleaning. As renters, we moved every year. Each time we moved, we cleared out all our clutter and tossed our collection of old spice jars, half burned candles, and mismatched socks. I will admit to holding on to way more books—and, yes, old vinyl records—than we should have. But still, everything we owned had to fit into a car and then the smallest U-Haul we could rent to move.

Then we had kids and later a house. We moved every three, then seven, then 20 years. I discovered why people made a tradition of spring cleaning. All you have to do is look at my basement and attics.

A Problem of Cognitive Psychology

A raft of psychological research shows that cognitive psychology has much to teach about clutter. It is often discussed in the context of why we should declutter.

Cluttered spaces are rarely calming. When we perform a cognitive task—writing a blog post, for example—being surrounded by clutter reduces the cognitive capacity we have to give to that task, because some part of our mind is processing and then actively ignoring unrelated stimuli. Decluttering the area around us reduces distraction so that we can give more of our attention to the work at hand.

Tip: I teach statistics. Learning to use new software is often stressful and cognitively demanding of my students. I ask them to count their open windows and look around at their work surfaces. When they close browser windows and background apps and clear materials off their desks, they find it easier to focus on learning the new task. This also reduces stress. Having a clear space to do schoolwork can help kids at home, too.

Tip: I teach statistics. Learning to use new software is often stressful and cognitively demanding of my students. I ask them to count their open windows and look around at their work surfaces. When they close browser windows and background apps and clear materials off their desks, they find it easier to focus on learning the new task. This also reduces stress. Having a clear space to do schoolwork can help kids at home, too.

Consolidate. As an interior designer (my first career), I learned that unbroken flat surfaces were soothing and read as calm. Clustering multiple items together into one place—like putting all your toiletries into a basket—made them read as a single item. Again, simplifying and decluttering the space reduces cognitive load and stress. You process one item—toiletries—instead of makeup, shampoo, moisturizers, hairbrushes . . . .

Reduce. Reducing how many items you need to organize makes it much easier to clear the decks.

Decision-making, another domain of cognitive psychology, is a big reason we accumulate clutter. I look at an old cable or a loved but much-worn shirt and have to think: Is this useful? Will I use it again? Is it worth it?And when I look into my closet, I don’t have one cable, I probably have a dozen Cleaning out a closet—or, heaven forbid, a basement—entails hundreds of decisions like that. Each is of no consequence. But together, those decisions add up to the difference between clutter and clear.

Tip: Many years ago, I wrote a blog post called Cutting Clutter: The Problem of the Ugly Coffee Cup. In it, I discuss cognitive components of the decision process of decluttering and practical approaches to the problem.

Tip: Many years ago, I wrote a blog post called Cutting Clutter: The Problem of the Ugly Coffee Cup. In it, I discuss cognitive components of the decision process of decluttering and practical approaches to the problem.

Teaching Kids to Make Decluttering a Daily Habit

Kids accumulate stuff. I give one or two gifts to my husband over a year. Although (obviously) I’m not a big gift-giver, when they were younger I bet I gave a dozen or more gifts to my kids over the course of the year. Grandparents, aunts, and birthday party guests added more. And while my kids weren’t big into accumulating toys, our house filled with Legos, art supplies, pencils, pens, school supplies, dozens of projects, assignments, and sports equipment.

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We won’t even talk about the zoo of adorable but seldom used stuffed animals.

One strategy I used with my younger kids was to let them help me declutter stuff in our shared space.

We picked one small space a day—the silverware drawer, the bath area, one shelf in the linen closet.

We’d put on some music or an audiobook we liked.

We’d spend 15 minutes pulling stuff out, wiping things down, and putting back what we wanted. They liked doing real work—and we made the process as silly as possible.

We’d get rid of stuff we didn’t need any more.

Following recommendations of decluttering experts, we separated our discards into three categories:

Toss: no one wants this

Give away: good stuff we don’t need

That last category was usually pretty small. We’d put it in a box to consider later. Usually, it got tossed.

What this does. There are a few things about this strategy that I found effective.

It was a short activity we did together.

It got built into our routine.

It taught my kids a skill and a lesson: how to let go and that it didn’t have to be a big deal.

Most important, over time, it made it less likely that things got out of hand. This was particularly important because for many years, we lived in small apartments. There was no basement or attic to stuff things into and build up. There wasn’t even a spare room.

From Joint Project to Child-Owned

Those same principles can be applied to things that are solely the kids’. We started out cleaning their rooms together. We’d pick a surface—a bedside table, a dresser drawer, or a bookshelf. Clear it off. Wipe it down. Organize what they want and put it away, and what they don't and give it away or toss.

Five to 15 minutes a day.

One thing that the kids liked about going through their things is that they’d rediscover things they owned and had forgotten about. They found that shark embryo in a jar, or really cool fossil, or bat puppet. If you already have nice things, you don’t need more.

It also made them comfortable getting rid of the broken toys and trash they didn’t want.

Although we started the process together, as they grew older, it was a process they took on themselves. None of us are neat freaks. But the process of decluttering isn’t scary, either.

The goal was to teach them both the pleasure of living in a space they control and own and love and to give them the tools to learn how to build that for themselves. In this, I think we’ve succeeded.

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